Absorbent articles such as sanitary napkins, pantiliners, incontinence articles and adhesive bandages are used to absorb body fluids such as menses, blood, urine and other body fluids.
Different body fluids have a fairly wide pH range, for example menses has pH of about 7.2, blood has a pH of about 7, urine has a pH of about 6.0 to about 7.2, and normal vaginal discharge may range from about 3.8 to about 4.5. Skin typically has a pH of about 5.3. Thus, body fluid discharged from the body may have a pH that is significantly different than the pH of skin.
Absorbent articles such as sanitary napkins, pantiliners incontinence articles and adhesive bandages are arranged in direct contact with the skin during use. Thus, if absorbed body fluids are in contact with skin, particularly over an extended period of time, the skin may become irritated due to the difference in pH of the body fluid and the pH of skin. Therefore, there is a need for an absorbent article that has the ability to absorb body fluids having a wide range of pH and adjust the natural pH of such body fluids, at the body-facing surface of the absorbent article, to a pH compatible with the pH of skin.